That group of sea gulls hovering and diving into the bay look for all the world to be birds pouncing on shrimp being pursued by a school of speckled trout. But when you ease close, anticipating fish-a-cast action, you see the gulls are scavenging by-catch tossed overboard by a bay shrimper.

See that log over there – the one slowly drifting toward the clump of water hyacinth where a raft of coots poke and peck for a meal? Look closer, and you see the “log” has nostrils and eyes, and is, really, an alligator hoping for a meal of poule d‘eau.

Nope, things sometimes aren’t what they appear to be, as the first and final entries in the below-listed latest selection of recent cases handled by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens amusingly illustrate.

The rest of the brief reports, culled from the past month or so, are not so amusing.

Sometimes, sadly, things are exactly what they seem to be.

On a May evening, Howard County Game Warden Matt Woodall was patrolling Moss Lake when he heard the tail end of some law enforcement radio traffic about something happening about 2 miles down the road from Woodall’s location.

Warden Woodall called dispatch to see what was going on, and was advised a caller had reported seeing a gray passenger car on the side of the road and watched as a woman got into the vehicle’s trunk, a man closed the trunk, got into the vehicle and drove away.

The caller had followed the car and saw which house the car had pulled into and said no one got out of the car or the trunk.

Warden Woodall responded from the lake to the intersection where the incident occurred and met with the caller and Howard County deputies.

Upon going to the location reported by the caller, Warden Woodall and two Howard County deputies approached the house and made contact with the man who had been driving the car.

He was asked if he had been out driving the neighborhood. He replied, “Yes,” and asked officers if this was in regards to his wife getting into the trunk.

Officers said yes it was and asked if he’d please fill them in on what was going on.

The man told officers he suspected he had a wheel bearing going out on his car – he could hear the tell-tale squealing/grinding associated with such a problem, but, when driving could not tell which side of the car the bad bearing was on.

So he got his wife to climb in the trunk (which is isolated from road noise) where she could listen as he drove down a street and identify which wheel was making the noise.

Officers talked with the wife who confirmed the story. From her “listening post” in the trunk, she’d identified the wheel with the burned bearing.

Officers returned to their patrols.

Travis County Game Warden Jeff Hill received a call that a man was harassing bass anglers on Lake Travis by slapping a paddle on the water, screaming obscenities and trying to hook others’ lines by hand.

The fishermen took photos and sent them to Warden Hill’s phone as the harassment was in progress.

Hill contacted the suspect who now has an appointment to discuss his actions with a judge. Intentional harassment of anglers or hunters is a Class B criminal misdemeanor in Texas.

Val Verde County Game Wardens Dustin Barrett and Kirk Clendening on May 27 responded to a distress call concerning a small child in a boat that had accidentally gone adrift.

The boat had drifted into the middle of Lake Amistad with a 7-year-old child aboard, and the family had been unable to reach the vessel.

Wardens Barrett and Clendening responded immediately in their patrol boat, were able to find the vessel and safely reunited the young boy with a very grateful family. Crisis averted.

On a late-May evening, Hemphill County Game Warden Mark Collins and Ochiltree County Game Warden Mike Wheat observed a group of nine people in a remote section of Palo Duro Lake, upstream from the main lake in an area seldom used for recreational purposes.

Undetected, the two wardens approached the group on foot and observed various actions associated with possible illegal fishing activity.

After a short surveillance, the wardens split up and approached the group from different directions.

When the wardens approached the group and announced their presence, the group split up and scattered.

The wardens then saw that one of the men was carrying a scoped black rifle.

After several tense moments as the wardens confronted the man with the rifle and a language barrier made the situation even more stressful, the man finally put down the rifle.

The wardens rounded up nine individuals from Oklahoma who were found to be in possession of 24 undersize crappie and 5 undersize channel cats.

The fish were removed from the subject’s possession, measured, photographed and released.

The wardens attempted to the best of their ability to explain our regulations and the violations committed.

Cases pending.

The Sunday before Memorial Day, Lubbock County Game Warden Mallory Brodrick and Deaf Smith/Castro/Parmer counties Game Warden T.J. Tweedle were patrolling Buffalo Springs Lake for water safety compliance when they noticed two young girls trying to swim across the lake in an area with very heavy boat traffic.

Both girls appeared to be very exhausted and were struggling to stay above water.

The wardens quickly responded to the scene, as one of the girls went underwater for an extended amount of time.

The girl then surfaced as the patrol boat arrived at their location.

Both girls were rescued and pulled aboard the patrol boat, then delivered safely to the shore.

The wardens then took a moment to educate the very grateful girls about the dangers of trying to swim across the lake.

Smith County Game Warden Chris Swift was patrolling boat ramps around Lake Palestine when he observed three people in the water who were hand fishing.

(Editor’s note: Hand fishing – also called “grappling” or “noodling” – involves anglers reaching into holes, cavities, washouts under logs and other such submerged nooks where large catfish often hide, grabbing the fish by its mouth and wrestling the big fish from the water. Hand fishing has been legal in Texas for only a couple of years, but it didn’t take long for poachers to figure they could violate the hand fishing rules law by using snagging poles – short poles onto which a large, heavy hook as been attached – to snag the big catfish.)

Swift also observed a fourth man on the bank, putting fish in the truck and watching the parking lot.

Warden Swift watched the fisherman from the bushes for about 45 minutes, and when the subjects quit fishing and came out of the water, the last man out eased a snag pole to the man who was looking out. That man quickly put the pole on the back of the truck.

Warden Swift then made contact with the group.

Citations were issued for no fishing licenses and for taking fish by illegal means and methods.

The fish were returned to the water.

Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses and Taylor County Game Warden James Cummings were checking two fishermen who were in a small john boat that did not have required registration displayed.

As Warden Cummings was issuing citations for the registration violation and for an under-size crappie the anglers had in a bait bucket, one of the fishermen continued to pull in a trotline he had out.

Suddenly, the man retrieving the trotline began to yell. His trotline weight had hung up and two hooks on drop lines snagged one of the subject’s hand and arm and the man was being pulled over the side and under the patrol boat.

Warden Moses quickly deployed a knife and was able to cut the trotline before the subject was pulled out of the boat.

Rockwall County Game Warden Clint Brown and Cadet John Newman were patrolling Lake Ray Hubbard for water safety violations when they found a boat operator to be intoxicated. On board the boat was a 7-year-old girl on board without a Personal Flotation Device.

Cases pending.

Angelina County Game Warden Phillip Wood was patrolling Sam Rayburn Reservoir when a flat-bottom boat came into the no-wake zone creating a hazardous wake. Warden Wood stopped the boat and observed several empty beer cans.

The driver was given field sobriety tests, which he failed.

The driver gave a specimen of his breath and the results were .101 and .102, well over the .08 blood/alcohol level defining intoxication.

Wood filed Boating-While-Intoxicated charges on the suspect.

That evening, after returning to Sam Rayburn Reservoir from Angelina County Jail after dealing with the above-described BWI, Game Warden Wood patrolled just past the no-wake zone and observed a boat sitting with no navigation lights on.

One of the subjects in the boat said, “It’s the Game Warden. Get out of here!”

The boat began to flee and Warden Wood pursued, utilizing his blue light on his patrol boat.

After a short pursuit the boat stopped.

Warden Wood observed several beer cans in the bottom of the boat. On-the-water float tests were given, and the driver failed.

The driver was asked to put a life jacket on and board the patrol boat, at which point he was observed struggling to put on the life jacket and nearly falling down in his boat.

Warden Wood proceeded to the bank and gave the driver further field sobriety tests, which the subject failed.

The boat operator’s gave specimens which were tested twice and gave blood/alcohol readings of .112 and .116.

Wood filed BWI charges against the subject.

Montgomery County Game Warden Brannon Meinkowsky and San Jacinto County Warden Aryn Corley spent a May evening patrolling Lake Conroe for water safety violations.

Throughout the night, the wardens issued numerous citations, apprehended a wanted fugitive, and arrested two subjects for boating while intoxicated.

In addition, while leaving the lake the wardens arrested an additional suspect for driving while intoxicated.

Maverick County Wardens Gregg Johnson and Cody Buckaloo were patrolling the northern part of Maverick County along the border county’s intricate canal systems when they approached a known local hangout and observed an older model Chevy pickup with four male occupants and a 1-year-old child.

The canal systems are private property, and the individuals were trespassing.

Wardens made contact with the vehicle just before they reached the public road.

Two of the males were riding in the bed of the pickup, and one was holding what appeared to be some sort of a rifle, which turned out to be a BB gun.

None of the individuals had identification, the driver didn’t have a valid driver license, and all individuals (except the 1-year-old) were intoxicated.

The truck registration had expired in November, 2011.

The vehicle had no insurance and no inspection.

Two of the males couldn’t be identified.

Border Patrol was contacted and took custody of the male individual who said he was hunting birds with the BB gun.

Family members were contacted to pick up the intoxicated individuals and take custody of the vehicle to tow home.

A driver license check of the family members who came to the scene revealed none of them had valid licenses.

So now the wardens had two trucks, four adult males, two adult females and six children who had to wait for licensed drivers to come and take them home.

A few hours later and well after dark the wardens finally made their way off of the canals.

Harris County Game Wardens Jennifer Inkster, Cullen Stakes and Ross Sidman were patrolling Clear Lake at night when a boat almost collided into the port side of the wardens’ vessel.

A water safety check was initiated, and the operator of the boat was arrested for Boating while intoxicated.

Maybe it’s a record shark. Maybe not; that depends a lot on whether the angler followed the strict rules the International Game Fish Association has for considering fish caught on rod-and-reel as record.

But there’s no doubt the mako shark caught Monday by a Texas angler fishing off the coast of southern California is a huge fish.

If Johnston followed the IGFA rules, the fish’s weight is verified and he submits all documentation to the organization which maintains recreational fishing records, the fish, said to be a shortfin mako, could replace the current world record for the species, a 1,221-pound mako caught off Massachusetts in 2001.

The fish is being held in storage and will be donated for research, the anglers told reporters.

News stories out of southern California indicate the catch was filmed as part of a cable television outdoors show. That could explain Johnston’s over-the-top comments to a California television station concerning the shark.

“It’s unreal. This thing is definitely a killing machine. Any wrong step, I could have gone out of the boat and down to the bottom of the ocean,” Johnston told the television station.

The shark is anything but standard, however. Makos – sometimes called “blue pointers” for their coloration – are pelagic sharks seldom found near shore. They are one of the fastest, most athletic of sharks, and are predisposed to making long runs and stunning leaps.

The heaviest shortfin mako caught off Texas on rod-and-reel was a 707.5-pounder landed in 2002.

The heaviest shark documented taken on rod-and-reel off Texas was a 13.5-foot, 1,129-pound tiger shark caught in 1996. The IGFA record for tiger shark is held by a 1,785-pound tiger caught off Australia in 2004. A 1,780-pound tiger shark was caught off South Carolina in 1964.

Here’s a little more information on that gator, the Houston-area hunter who took it and a couple of photos of the big reptile:

The 14-foot, 3-inch, 800-pound male gator was taken by 18-year-old Braxton Bielski of Cinco Ranch who was hunting with his father, Troy.

The pair had been selected to receive two of the 10 alligator permits TPWD issued through a drawing of 481 applications for those permits and the five-day hunt on the state WMA adjacent to the 26,000-acre reservoir near Three Rivers in McMullen and Live Oaks counties.

It was the first TPWD public hunt in which the pair had participated, and they’d never hunted gators.

The 14-foot, 3-inch, 800-pound gator Braxton took on a hook-and-line set is the heaviest alligator TPWD has certified.

But it is not the longest gator taken in Texas; that record belongs to a pair of 14-foot, 4-inch gators, one from Jackson County and the other from Calhoun County.

During the hunt, Troy Bielski also took a huge alligator – a 10-foot, 6-inch female. Female gators seldom grow to more than 10 feet.

The TPWD-run public hunts, which offer the only opportunities to legally take alligators from Choke Canyon, has produced several huge alligators over the five years the hunts have been held. Prior to Bielski taking the 14-3, the largest alligator taken from the reservoir measured 13 feet, 8 inches, with two others measuring 13 feet of more.

The popularity “Swamp People,” a television program on the History Channel centered around commercial alligator hunters has triggered a surge of interest in alligator hunting. This year, TPWD offered 165 alligator permits through its public hunting program, with hunts conducted on five of the agency’s WMAs. More than 2,000 people – 2,340, to be exact – applied for those permits.

Florida wildlife officials recently said they expect to receive 10,000-15,000 applications for the 5,000 $272 alligator tags they will issue for that state’s 2013 alligator season.

]]>https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/05/more-on-huge-choke-canyon-alligator/feed/18Houston teen catches 760-pound marlin in Hawaii.https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/04/houston-teen-catches-760-pound-marlin-in-hawaii/
https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/04/houston-teen-catches-760-pound-marlin-in-hawaii/#commentsThu, 25 Apr 2013 18:17:56 +0000http://blog.chron.com/shannontompkins/?p=927
]]>https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/04/houston-teen-catches-760-pound-marlin-in-hawaii/feed/2Game warden cases: Much more than just hunting and fishinghttps://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/04/game-warden-cases-its-much-more-than-just-hunting-and-fishing/
https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/04/game-warden-cases-its-much-more-than-just-hunting-and-fishing/#commentsFri, 05 Apr 2013 22:06:58 +0000http://blog.chron.com/shannontompkins/?p=899Ask a Texas game warden to list the best things about his or her job, and “diversity” will be right there at the top with “”best office in the world.”

While their primary mission is enforcing hunting, fishing and water safety laws and regularly investigating environmental crimes such as water pollution, Texas’ game wardens find themselves working just about every kind of law-enforcement job out there, from search-and-rescues to cases involving stolen property, drugs, driving while intoxicated, and others.

As certified Texas peace officers (the same as DPS troopers, sheriff’s deputies, city police and other law enforcement officers), Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens are authorized – and obligated – to enforce all state laws, not just fish and game regulations.

A lot of people don’t know this. Some find out the hard way. TPWD wardens make a surprising number of DWI, stolen property and drug-related cases. Game wardens never know what they’ll encounter around the next bend in the river, turn in the trail or curve in the road.

Most of the cases and incidents below, culled from recent field reports from TPWD law enforcement regional offices, involve what most Texans see as wardens’ traditional duties. But some show just what game wardens mean when they say they never know what their day will bring:

Titus County Game Warden Jerry Ash stopped at a fast-food restaurant for supper and witnessed a man enter the store carrying a cup.

The man walked directly to the soft drink machine and helped himself to a drink.
A young restaurant employee immediately started telling the man he wasn’t allowed in the store, so the man quickly left without paying.
The employee stated the man was criminally trespassing.
Warden Ash asked if they would like him to stop the man, and the clerk said yes.
Warden Ash walked out of the store, identified himself to the man and requested that he return to the store to pay for his drink.
Instead, the man fled on foot.
Warden Ash arrested the man a short time later for evading arrest, criminal trespass, and theft.
Turns out, the man had been charged with criminal trespass at the same store this past summer.

In late February, Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses was contacted by TPWD Fisheries Biologist Bruce Hysmith concerning a rabid gray fox found in a residential area.

Warden Moses responded to the location, where he found an adult gray fox displaying classic symptoms of rabies hiding underneath a pickup.

The fox was euthanized.

Ellis County Game Warden Jeff Powell in late February received an Operation Game Thief call about a subject offering game fish and exotic snakes for sale on his Facebook account.

The caller had posted to the subject’s Facebook page that it’s illegal to sell game fish, and the subject had removed the post.
Warden Powell was able to access the subject’s account and verify that he was, in fact, in possession of exotic snakes without permits and was also offering to sell nongame wildlife.
While reviewing the subject’s Facebook page, Warden Powell also noticed pictures of the subject with ducks and a shotgun in his hand with the caption, “The duck Slayer,” with time stamps of Feb 3, 2013. Duck season ended in January.
Warden Powell was able to confirm that the subject did not purchase a hunting license or required permits.
Powell and Dallas County Game Warden Sergio Bazaldua made contact with the subject, who, it turns out, had committed multiple violations including no hunting license, no migratory stamp endorsement, hunting ducks in closed season, no exotic snake permit, no nongame collection/dealer permit, and others.
Multiple cases pending.

• What does 2 tons of marijuana look like? See the photo below. San Antonio Express-News writer Jason Busch has more details on this record marijuana bust. Click here for the article.

In Starr County, 4,719 pounds of pot were seized last week by game wardens and Border Patrol. (Courtesy of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

Hockley/Terry/Yoakum County Game Warden Aaron Sims was on routine patrol near Brownfield around midnight March 16 when he spotted a truck without its headlights on driving through a construction zone.

Sims watched another vehicle in front of his patrol vehicle flash high beams in attempt to alert the subject, but no response was detected from no-headlights vehicle.
Sims pulled around behind the vehicle to perform a traffic stop.
Eventually, the subject’s vehicle came to rest, parked at an angle between two spaces in a local convenience store parking lot and Sims pulled in behind him, emergency lights activated on his patrol vehicle.
The driver was seemingly unaware Sims was behind him and attempted to straighten out the poor parking job. Sims had to sound his patrol siren several times to alert the subject from backing into his patrol unit.
When Sims approached the vehicle, he quickly discovered the reason for the erratic and abnormal driving behavior.
The two men inside the truck, including the driver, were highly intoxicated. Field sobriety tests were administered to both subjects, resulting in two arrests, one for DWI and the other for public intoxication.
The driver, who has a lengthy criminal history including resisting arrest, assault, and five previous arrests for DWI, had been convicted of Felony-DWI 3rd almost one year ago to the day.

In early March, Henderson County Game Warden Chad West and Cherokee County Game Wardens Brian Bearden and Eric Collins were patrolling the Neches River for fishing violations when they made contact with an individual who was fishing along the river bank.

The individual told them about his cousin who had an outstanding deer season.
After the bragging session was over, Warden West contacted Smith County Game Warden Chris Swift who located the residence of the individual’s deer-hunting cousin.
After a being interviewed for an hour or so, and after repeated denials, the man finally confessed to shooting two bucks – an 8-point buck and a 10-point buck – in a one-buck county.
Cases pending.

Williamson County Sheriff’s Office on March 2 responded to a “shots fired” call in a subdivision in Leander.

The sheriff’s office notified Warden Joel Campos, who responded to the scene.
The shooter was found in a greenbelt and was carrying a .22-caliber rifle and several knives.
The suspect had shot a doe and stated to officers he was “getting rid of the bad from the forest.”
When asked to explain, the suspect said he was killing deer that were destroying the forest.
The sheriff’s office filed misdemeanor charges, and Warden Campos filed several misdemeanors and a state jail felony charge as well as civil restitution fees.

While checking white bass fishermen on the Neches River, Smith County Game Wardens Chris Swift and Dustin Dockery followed a trail of empty beer cans to find four subjects who were trespassing. None of the subjects had a fishing license.

Several citations issued, and several fish returned to the river.

That same day, Wardens Swift and Dockery were walking to their vehicles about 8:45 p.m. when they observed a truck with flashing red and blue lights driving through a pasture.

The truck held a local volunteer fire chief who had been sent out on a call concerning two lost fishermen.
The wardens determined that the two lost anglers, who were from Iowa, were among some of the fishermen they had checked earlier in the day.
Turns out, the subjects were lost in an oxbow in the river, did not have a flashlight, and had been walking in circles.
Wardens Swift and Dockery returned to the area and located the fishermen.
A local bow fisherman’s airboat was utilized in helping get the subjects across the river.

Travis County Game Warden Jeff Hill was called by the Austin Police Department on March 21 when, during the execution of a search warrant, officers discovered a freshly killed deer in a cooler plus and a mourning dove in a chest freezer along with a kilo of cocaine.

The dove, officers suspected, had been shot in the residential neighborhood by someone using a pellet gun.
Officers found and seized narcotics along with numerous semi-automatic rifles and handguns.
The suspected drug dealer’s squalid residence, which was made even more so by a sewage leak, also held dozens of fighting roosters.
Cases pending.

Runnels County Warden Lane Pinckney was in plain clothes visiting with and observing transactions of an area fur buyer who was conducting transaction with local trappers in the parking lot of a local business.

While there, a man came up and inquired in the presence of everyone if anybody had any deer meat for sale.
Lane spoke up and said that he didn’t have any deer meat at that time but could get him some.
The man gave Lane his name and phone number and agreed on a price.
Lane told him he would have him a deer in a week or so.
After several weeks, Lane called the man and he agreed to meet again to pick up his deer.
When they met, Lane advised the man that what they were doing was illegal – selling or buying meat from deer or other game animals is prohibited.
The buyer didn’t seem to mind the illegality of the transaction, and asked Lane for his phone number in case he ever wanted to buy more.
The sale was made and they parted ways.
Coleman County Warden Lee Morrison was observing the transaction and made a traffic stop on the man and issued a citation for unlawful purchase of deer meat.

In a trial which concluded March 28, a case made by Galveston County Game Wardens Antone Jackson and Jaime Pendlebury in November, 2012 ended with a guilty verdict.

The case involved two subjects wardens caught in possession of 80 undersized red snapper.
Both suspects were found guilty and paid fines totaling $4,000.

Dimmit County Game Warden Gene Fernandez recently completed a case that began nearly two years ago.

The case involved an out-of-town hunter leasing a property which he thought needed to be heavily managed, and taking at least 21 deer in order to reduce the number of “cull bucks” and does.
Problem was that the property was not under a Managed Lands Deer permit, and the man was slightly over his limit of five total white-tailed deer for the season. He also had illegally used deer tags of family members and friends to “properly tag” all of the extra deer he took.
Game Wardens Jesse Garcia, Oscar Henson, and Kurt Kelly assisted with obtaining statements that pertained to the case.
Appropriate charges were filed, and the subject faces thousands of dollars in fines and court costs for the criminal violations as well as several thousands of dollars in civil restitution fees.

Anyone who doubts this doesn’t pay much attention to the carnage scattered on and along highways, and certainly hasn’t driven the stretch of Interstate 10 between Kerrville and Fort Stockton where on just about any day a traveler can count dozens of carcasses of white-tailed deer, raccoons, possums, porcupines, a coyote or two and a score or two of assorted birds ranging in size from vultures to vireos.

Owls can be particularly vulnerable to being victims of encounters with motor vehicles.

These nocturnal avian predators are drawn to roads. It’s a place offering them two things they look for in a hunting area: plenty of prey and an unobstructed zone of attack.

Owls – great horned, barred, screech and barn owls – will take a position on a tree limb, fence post or utility post overlooking the road right-of-way, wait and watch.

Those rights-of-way invariably hold decent vegetative cover which is used by all manner of owl fodder, from cotton rats to cottontails, snakes, frogs, lizards and other critters deemed edible by owls.

The hunting owl waits and watches and listens (the birds have amazing hearing; they can move their ears independently and use that ability along with their dished face that funnels sound to those ears to triangulate location of unseen but not unheard prey) until it has a lock on some unwary young rabbit nibbling on grass or spots (using its huge eyes evolved for seeing in low light) a mouse pinballing from grass clump to grass clump.

The rodent or rabbit seldom sees and almost never hears the end coming. The owl simply leans forward, drops, uses its wide, soft-feathered wings that make almost no sound even when the bird flaps them to approach, then plunges those long, razor-sharp talons into the victim, driving them deep with a grip so powerful that until you have felt it seems impossible for the bird.

That 10-yard or wider strip of pavement running through the hunting ground of a road-side perched owl is a major factor in the bird’s choice of ambush location. That open ground, with no cover and no place to hide is a perfect killing ground for the bird.

It’s a place where, on cool nights, snakes slither and settle to take advantage of the retained warmth, exposing them to hungry owls which fall on them with ease.

And if a rabbit or mouse decides the grass is greener on the other side of the road, the trip across the concrete No Man’s Land exposes it to the owl. It’s easy pickin’ for the bird.

It also can be a death trap for them.

A car comes barreling down a dark road toward where an owl is perched overlooking the right-of-way.

A cotton rat in a clump of grass near the edge of the road feels the vibration of the approaching vehicle, sees the light, hears the rumble. Twitchy to begin with, the rat doesn’t know what to do. It darts into the road, and the watching owl swoops to pursue it.

Sometimes the owl gets the meal.

Sometimes it doesn’t

And sometimes the bird’s stoop sends it on a collision course with a vehicle travelling 60 mph.

These vehicle/owl encounters invariably do not end well for the owl.

Well, almost invariably, as the video illustrates.

This is one lucky owl.

]]>https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/02/a-dark-tale-of-owls-roads-life-death-and-luck/feed/12Game warden cases: Few Mensa members here and other tales of miscreantshttps://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/02/game-warden-cases-few-mensa-members-here-and-other-tales-of-miscreants/
https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/02/game-warden-cases-few-mensa-members-here-and-other-tales-of-miscreants/#commentsSat, 09 Feb 2013 04:51:40 +0000http://blog.chron.com/shannontompkins/?p=856Not every poacher is a career/serial criminal. But a lot of them seem to be.

This is not surprising, as the only difference between poaching – illegally taking fish or wildlife – and stealing someone’s car or boat or other property is that instead of thieving something from an individual the poacher steals from everyone.

And neither is it surprising that some of these folks aren’t going to be invited to join Mensa, as aptly illustrated in the first of this latest edition of my picks from recent field reports from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens.

I would say, “Enjoy!” But, really, there’s not a lot to enjoy in these reports, save the fact that these miscreants face at least some measure of consequences for their actions, and that there are Texas game wardens out there willing to do what is obviously a challenging, if sometimes darkly amusing, job.

Law Enforcement Office Administrative Assistant Kimberly Gribben on Dec. 20 had a buyer and seller come into the Lubbock office to transfer a 2007 14-foot Alumacraft boat.

The buyer presented a bill of sale with a pencil tracing of the boat’s Hull Identification Number (HIN) that Gribben could tell was clearly altered. But the man also had the correct HIN written down.

When Gribben retrieved the boat record from the state’s computerized files, she saw it was flagged as stolen on Nov. 25, 2012, reported by Levelland Police Department.

Gribben asked to see both the buyer and seller’s driver’s license and the seller responded that he left his at home.

Gribben told him she would have to see it before she could proceed with the transaction. She was buying time because there were no wardens in the office at the time.

Gribben called Lubbock County Game Warden Mallory Brodrick and advised her of the situation.

When the boat seller made it back to the office, he was greeted by Warden Brodrick. The man said he couldn’t find his ID, nor could he remember his Social Security number.

Warden Brodrick advised the two men she wanted to see the boat, and the three left in vehicles to drive to where the boat was stored.

Somehow, the seller got lost along the way and didn’t make it to the boat’s location, where Brodrick confiscated the vessel.

Contacted by phone, the missing seller said he knew the boat was stolen and would come in and provide the name of the man from whom he got the boat.

Levelland PD’s original report of the stolen boat indicated it was connected to the burglary of the same victim’s home. Turns out, the boat was used in the burglary to carry off personal belongings from the home.

Further investigation is pending.

Tom Green County Game Wardens Jason Huebner and Cynde Aguilar on Dec. 14 observed a vehicle attempt to run down deer in an open field.

Wardens stopped the vehicle, and could smell a strong odor of alcohol on the lone subject.

Field sobriety tests were administered and the subject was arrested for DWI, driving while license suspended, two local warrants and hunting with illegal means and methods.

Presidio County Game Warden Zachary Moerbe responded Dec. 23 to the Penitas Ranch in regards to a nonfatal hunting accident.

When he arrived, Warden Moerbe learned that the injured party had been in the process of crossing over a fence when his loaded shotgun fell from its rest and discharged, resulting in the injury.

Upon further investigation, Warden Moerbe discovered that the 21-year-old victim had not taken a hunter education course, which is unfortunate given this very scenario – how to safely cross a fence while carrying a firearm – is covered as part of that course.

During an investigation of a subject to which Val Verde County Game Warden Mike Durand had issued citations for hunting without a license and possession of untagged deer, Durand determined the subject, who had a lengthy drug record, was a convicted felon on parole.

As he continued to investigate the subject’s convictions in order to secure a felony arrest warrant for the felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm charge, Warden Durand made contact with the DPS CID unit and DEA. This was based on the behavior of the subject and his wife during the initial contact at their residence when Warden Durand asked to enter the home to secure the rifle that had been used to shoot the deer.

The DEA and DPS CID apparently had this very subject on their radar and were looking for an opportunity to look inside the home.

With help from Warden Durand and his case, DPS CID was able to secure warrants, and during the subject’s arrest found cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana ready for distribution.

While finishing up booking a subject into the Montague County Jail on Jan. 19, Montague County Game Warden Chase McAninch received a call from a Montague County deputy in reference to a suspicious vehicle on a county road.

The stopped vehicle containing three subjects from Oklahoma who explained they did not know you couldn’t hunt from a public road and didn’t think property owners would mind them hunting without their permission.

They said in Oklahoma this was not a problem.

Subjects also stated they did not know in Texas you need a hunting license to hunt hogs when you’re on someone else’s property without their permission.

All three suspects were educated about the Texas/Oklahoma border being the Red River.

Cases pending.

Trinity County Game Wardens Sam Shanafelt and Randy Watts received a call Jan. 18 from a landowner about possible trespassing on his property and a missing heater from one of his deer blinds.

Wardens responded to the call, checked out the property and around the deer blind found several footprints not belonging to the landowner.

Wardens followed the tracks across a fence and onto the neighbors’ property where the tracks led to where a vehicle was parked, then from the vehicle to the neighbor’s house.

Wardens interviewed a man at the house and the man confessed to trespassing on his neighbor’s property but said he knew nothing about a heater.

The man gave game wardens permission to search his vehicle.

In the driver’s door of the vehicle, wardens found a meth pipe.

After further interviewing, the man admitted to having a container of meth inside his house.

Wardens located the bag of meth inside the suspect’s house.

The man also stated that the missing heater could be in the house.

Game wardens found the heater hidden in the closet in the suspect’s bedroom.

The suspect was arrested and transported to the Trinity County Jail where charges for possession of a controlled substance, trespassing, and theft are pending.

In December 2012, Johnson County Game Warden Scott Kirkpatrick wrapped up a nine-month-long investigation on a deer case that began with a call that produced a photo of a suspect posing with a deer at night. Officers suspected the deer had been illegally taken.

In questioning, the suspect stated that he saw the deer dead on the side of the road and stopped to take a picture with it, seeing how it was the biggest deer he had ever seen.

When Warden Kirkpatrick asked him if he was supposed to believe his story, he replied, “I sure hope so.”

Working with officers from the Special Operations section, Internal Affairs, and Hood County Game Warden Deshanna Creager, several cases were filed.

Civil restitution for the heavy-antlered buck is expected to be close to $3,000.

Ellis County Game Warden Jeff Powell and Navarro County Game Warden Jimmy Woolley on Jan. 22 executed a search warrant on the residence of a suspect who Warden Powell had arrested in November for killing a 188 B&C buck without a license, waste of game, and felon in possession of firearm.

The wardens seized a 20-point, 175+ B&C white-tailed deer that was killed illegally in Shelby County.

The month before, Warden Powell had also seized a 51-point, 300+ B&C white-tailed deer killed in Ohio by this same suspect.

Warden Powell is working with a wildlife investigator with the Ohio DNR, which is pursuing felony charges in Ohio.

A fourth trophy white-tailed deer killed in Indiana is also being investigated for a license violation.

Rockwall County Game Warden Clint Brown on Dec. 17 checked two duck hunters on their way out of their blind.

When one of the hunters was asked to provide three shells to check the hunter’s shotgun plug, he produced two shells and a marijuana pipe from his pocket.

The hunter quickly tried to take the pipe back, but Warden Brown objected and took possession of it.

The hunter was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia, and the other hunter was cited for an unplugged shotgun.

Cases pending.

Coryell County Game Warden Andrew Alexander was patrolling the county when he observed a man operating an ATV on a county road.

Warden Alexander stopped the man, who told him that he was trying to take the back roads to a friend’s house 10 miles away.

Warden Alexander observed that the ATV had been spray-painted completely black, covering up all decals.

Warden Alexander ran the ATV’s Vehicle Identification Number and found the operator was not the registered owner.

A check of the operator’s criminal history revealed a lengthy record, mostly for burglary and theft.

Given the circumstances, Warden Alexander seized the ATV until the registered owner could be contacted.

A few days later a man reported the ATV stolen to the local sheriff’s office.

The victim lived just down the street from the suspect and it appears that the ATV had been stolen and spray-painted within 12 hours of Warden Alexander making the stop.

Warrants were obtained and the suspect arrested.

Case pending.

Polk County Game Wardens Ryan Hall and Brandon Mosley were patrolling for night hunting violations on Dec. 21 when they heard a vehicle roll to a stop up the road from their stationary hidden location.

Wardens could hear the subjects kill the truck and then one subject walked by their location.

Wardens had received a call earlier in the evening of spotlighting in a field near where they were located.

Because of rattling and different noises coming from the subjects’ location, wardens were concerned that the subjects had loaded a deer.

After awhile, the vehicle started up and wardens stopped the vehicle up the road only to find the subject was not road hunting but stealing ground wires on utility poles.

In addition, the subject had a bag of what appeared to be synthetic marijuana.

The subject was apprehended and turned over to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Zapata County Game Warden Jake Mort settled into a night set off the side of a farm-to-market road and within two minutes observed a vehicle shining a spotlight from the road.

When the vehicle approached his location, Warden Mort observed the vehicle to be towing another vehicle.

The two trucks kept spotlighting as they drove past Warden Mort’s position and stopped approximately 75 to 100 yards from Warden Mort.

Two individuals exited the rear truck and ran over and grabbed a buck they had just shot earlier and threw it in the back of the truck.

The two vehicles were stopped shortly after, and all four admitted to road hunting.

When asked what the deal was with towing the other vehicle, they said after they shot the deer, they sped off and had blown the transmission.

Titus County Game Warden Jerry Ash responded to a Jan. 4 call regarding four males trespassing at Luminant Monticello Power Plant.

Warden Ash discovered a rental car out of Oklahoma and later found the four males trespassing and fishing at the off-limits hot water discharge on Lake Monticello.

The subjects were from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and California and were taking a fishing trip to Lake Fork.

They didn’t catch anything at Lake Fork and were told how good the fishing was at the Power Plant.

Citations and warnings were issued for criminal trespass, fishing in a restricted area, and for no fishing licenses.

Cases pending.

]]>https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2013/02/game-warden-cases-few-mensa-members-here-and-other-tales-of-miscreants/feed/8Game warden cases: Frida Kahlo and Facebook fools? Must be deer seasonhttps://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2012/12/game-warden-cases-frida-kahlo-and-facebook-fools-must-be-deer-season/
https://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2012/12/game-warden-cases-frida-kahlo-and-facebook-fools-must-be-deer-season/#commentsWed, 05 Dec 2012 04:40:26 +0000http://blog.chron.com/shannontompkins/?p=840Wild deer have been a subject of art since. . . well, since the beginning of art. Representations of antlered cervids are all over the cave walls at places such as Lascaux in France, Spain’s La Pasiega and other caves across Europe where they were painted 20,000 or so years ago.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Deer Horns is spiritual and haunting and recently sold for almost $2 million.

So it’s not surprising that a modern artist would look to include a deer in a piece of her/his work.

But this can prove quite surprising to some folks, as the first report in our latest roundup of reports of recent cases worked by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens illustrates.

Deer are the focus of most of the cases reported below – not surprising because we’re in the middle of Texas’s annual deer hunting season.

The huge majority of the 600,000-plus Texans who hunt deer each season do it lawfully and ethically and honorably. But there are some who don’t. And some of these criminals – and poachers are criminals – aren’t nearly as artful in their skullduggery as they almost certainly believe they are.

Here’s the latest installment in our continuing series of brief reports culled from reports filed by TPWD law enforcement field offices:

Lubbock County Game Warden Mallory Brodrick received a call Nov. 20 from a landowner who reported discovering a deer head, a dead chicken, and an altar surrounded by very bright lights were on an adjacent property.

When she arrived at the scene, Warden Brodrick was greeted by the caller and two Lubbock Police Department officers.

Turns out, there was, indeed, an altar with lights, a timer, and lock boxes with cameras inside continually snapping photos of the feast of raw, dead animals.

To Warden Brodrick’s surprise, the white-tailed deer head was tagged with a completed deer tag from a Texas hunting license. But the tag was for a mule deer, not a whitetail.

After Brodrick tracked down and interviewed the hunter named on the deer tag, she discovered the altar was actually an art project by a separate individual who was an art graduate student at Texas Tech University.

A citation was issued along with serious suggestions about posting signage warning “Art in Progress-Do Not Disturb.”

Comanche County Game Warden Mike Alexander on Nov. 16 stopped a large ATV spotlighting on a county road at 9:00 p.m.

The ATV held six people dressed in camo – the three in the front had loaded rifles between their legs, and one subject in the back was working the spotlight.

There were more guns, ammo, and beer in the back.

None of the subjects had a hunting license, and all said they didn’t think that you needed one just to hunt coyotes.

They also seemed surprised when told that you can’t hunt from a public road and asked if that is a new law.

Apparently, an individual was hunting deer at night and using social media to discuss his escapades.

Warden Serbanic relayed this information to the game wardens in Brownwood.

They caught the individual and recovered a buck with antlers that scored 129 Boone and Crockett Club points.

Criminal cases and civil restitution pending.

Gillespie County Game Warden Sam Harris responded to a call of a helicopter flying over property and shooting.

Upon arriving at the scene, Warden Harris determined the helicopter was not managing wildlife on the caller’s property but the neighboring property.

Warden Harris travelled to the property being flow and shot, and after contacting TPWD’s permits staff, he was advised a current landowners agreement (LOA) require for aerial shooting of permitted animals was not on file for the property being worked.

Warden Harris waited at the pilot’s trailer and truck and observed the helicopter shooting exotics.

When the pilot landed the aircraft, Harris confirmed the pilot did not have a required, valid LOA nor did he have a required log.

The pilot was very nonchalant during his discussion with Warden Harris until he was advised of the penalties involved, at which time the conversation took on a very somber tone.

The pilot was advised of the charges being filed and that he would be contacted by the prosecutor’s office.

Shortly thereafter, Warden Harris contacted the landowner and discovered the landowner had warned the pilot earlier about having all of his permits as he would probably be checked by the warden.

The pilot, the landowner said, dismissed the landowner’s warning and stated he wasn’t worried about the warden.

The landowner gave a statement indicating the conversation and made note how the pilot’s demeanor had now changed from what it was that morning.

Charges filed.

Travis County Game Warden Christy Vales was checking three fishermen on the pier at a local community fishing lake when she noticed a line hanging down in a far corner of the pier where it appeared it was placed to be hidden.

When Vales took a closer look, she found the line was part of a yo-yo device (a spring-loaded fishing reel which is illegal for use in Texas) baited and hanging in the water. She addressed the fishermen, and two of the anglers – one from Indiana and the other from Florida – said they knew yo-yos were illegal.

The Texas resident who had put out the put the device said he had no idea they were illegal in Texas.

He stated that he purchased them online from Tennessee.

Citations issued, and six Tennessee Yo-Yos were seized. Cases pending.

Van Zandt County Game Wardens Steve Stapleton and Trent Herchman along with Wood County Game Warden Kurt Kelley this past month wrapped up a three-day investigation into illegal hunting that had all of the elements of a crime novel and resulted in apprehension of a Fruitvale man and his grandfather.

Highlights of the case included pulling a Grand Saline restaurant’s video surveillance footage that showed a truck holding an illegally taken deer.

Warden Herchman recovered an illegally-taken deer’s head hidden underneath the cowling of a boat motor.

Hunting deer in closed season, waste of game, failure to tag, take deer with antlers under 13 inches and possession of drug paraphernalia cases were filed.

Nacogdoches County Game Randy Stovall on Nov. 23 received information from Harrison County Game Warden Scott Robertson that a man had shot three Nacogdoches County whitetail bucks that had antlers measuring more than 13-inch inside spread. (The annual bag limit in counties under antler restrictions is one 13-inch or larger buck per year.)

The subject had posted pictures of two of his trophy bucks on Facebook.

Warden Stovall along with Warden Sean Reneau made contact with the subject at his residence where the deer harvest log on the subject’s hunting license showed three bucks over 13 inches shot in three different counties.

After a brief interview, the subject admitted to shooting all three deer in Nacogdoches County.

Cases pending.

Brazoria County Game Warden Jason Richers on Nov. 23 made another good case based on information obtained off Facebook.

After receiving an Operation Game Thief call concerning an individual who had posted the question, “Where can someone go to have an illegal deer processed in Brazoria County?” on his Facebook page, Warden Richers contacted the Lake Jackson resident, who confessed to killing two illegal bucks in Wilson County.

The 8-point and 10-point white-tailed bucks, both of which failed to meet the 13-inch antler restriction and a rifle were seized as evidence.

Cases pending.

On Thanksgiving Day, Uvalde County Game Warden Henry Lutz received a call from a local farmer saying that he found blood and drag marks across his plowed field, evidence that someone killed something on his property and dragged it across the field and over a fence into a neighbor’s field.

The landowner had also located a cell phone lying in the dirt along the drag trail.

Lutz obtained information from the phone and soon had its owner on the line.

The phone’s owner said he thought it was stolen from him while at a bar the night before.

Lutz met with the owner of the phone and the phone owner’s friend.

After three hours of investigation and intense interrogation during which the subject alternately blamed his inability to remember events of the evening before, claiming everything from extreme intoxication the previous night to brain injury, the owner of the phone finally confessed to killing a white-tailed deer at night on property he did not have permission to hunt on.

He also did not have a valid hunting license. Appropriate charges filed.

Warden Fuentes was able to locate three hunters walking back toward the river after setting up blinds on private property.

One subject was placed under arrest under charges of felon in possession of a firearm. Also, the rifle he had turned out to be stolen.

The felon had two years of parole left on a charge of aggravated assault of a peace officer.

The landowner decided not to press charges, stating, “He is in enough trouble already.”

Felony cases pending.

October 29, Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses received a call from a DPS trooper who had found a pop-up blind, scouting camera, and corn on the property the DPS trooper bowhunts.

When the officers checked the digital card of the camera, they found a picture of a subject who’s a very well-known game violator.

Warden Moses along with fellow Grayson County Game Wardens Michael Hummert and Colt Gaulden, and the DPS trooper started checking the area every morning and evening for the subject.

Just after daylight on November 5, Warden Moses located the suspect’s vehicle parked outside the property. He contacted the DPS trooper, who was hunting at the time, and Warden Hummert.

The officers entered the property but were unable to locate the subject. So the officers backed out and set up surveillance on the suspect’s vehicle and exit point.

At approximately 10:30 a.m., the suspect exited the property and walked within 30 yards of Warden Hummert.

The suspect had a crossbow with an Eotech sight, a climbing stand, and a bag with two scouting cameras.

When the subject was stopped and questioned by officers, he claimed he had not been on the property or climbed a tree.

Warden Moses was able to locate the area that the suspect had hunted, including the tree with climbing stand marks.

The game camera’s SD card was also recovered and found to hold a photo of the suspect at the stand that day.

The suspect is a convicted felon and has 10 prior TPWD violations.

The subject was arrested and charged with hunting without consent of landowner, a Class A Misdemeanor.

Van Zandt County Game Warden Steve Stapleton was contacted Nov. 4 by a local landowner who reported he had caught a man walking across his property in full camo and carrying a rifle.

The landowner asked the subject what he was doing on his land, and the subject replied, “I’m hunting!”

The landowner explained to the subject that he was trespassing.

The subject told the landowner that he in fact was “ruining my hunting!”

A brief verbal altercation ensued, and the trespasser soon left, but not before the landowner copied down the subject’s license plate number.

Warden Stapleton and Wood County Game Warden Kurt Kelley located the truck at a residence in Van where they made contact with the subject in the driveway and soon removed marijuana and methamphetamine from the subject’s pockets.

A consented search of the vehicle revealed a vast arsenal of weapons and hunting gear, including five rifles, three pistols, thousands of rounds of ammunition, a crossbow, 17 knives, hunting gear of every kind and more marijuana.